INTRODUCTION. 



I. NATURAL FEATURES OP SUFFOLK. 



TJFFOLK is one of the Eastern Counties, and was formerly the 

 Southern County of those comprised in the ancient Kingdom of 

 East Anglia. It is the most Easterly County in England, its 

 coast line extending a few miles further East than either of the 

 neighbouring Counties. 



Geographically it lies between the parallels 51 deg. 57 min. and 

 52 deg. 35 min. N. Lat., and between 24 min. and 1 deg. 45 min. E. 

 Long., and contains an area of about 1500 square miles, or 944,000 acres, 

 having the shape of an irregular trapezium ; the coast line being about 

 50 miles in length, the greatest breadth from East to West about 56 

 miles, and from North to South about 32 miles. It is bounded on the 

 North by the County of Norfolk the two Counties being separated by 

 the Kiver Waveney and Breydon Water in the Eastern half, and by the 

 Eiver Little Ouse in the Western. To the West lies Cambridgeshire, 

 separated in the Northern half by the Eiver Lark, being without a 

 natural boundary further South. Essex lies along the whole Southern 

 boundary, divided from it by the Eiver Stour through nearly the whole 

 of its extent. The whole of the Eastern boundary is washed by the 

 German Ocean, and is cut up by numerous narrow and deep Estuaries, 

 which almost treble the County's seaboard. 



The County is well drained, most of the rivers flowing in an 

 Easterly direction ; but the Lark and Little Ouse, which drain the 

 Western aud North-western Divisions, have a North-westerly course* 

 ultimately reaching the sea at the Wash. The watersheds of the 

 Northern portion of the County are two one possessing a North- 

 westerly and the other a North-easterly trend ; but in the South the 

 watershed has a South-easterly direction. The chief rivers are the 

 Stour, which rites in the South-western part of the County, and flow- 

 ing along the Southern boundary, becomes a tidal estuary at Catawade, 



